Local Religion in North China in the Twentieth Century: The Structure and Organization of Community Rituals and Beliefs

236 Pages·2009·2.652 MB·English

by  D. Overmyer

Local Religion in North China in the
Twentieth Century
Handbook of Oriental Studies
Handbuch der Orientalistik

SECTION FOUR
China
Edited by
Stephen F. Teiser
Martin Kern
Timothy Brook
VOLUME 22
Local Religion in North China in the
Twentieth Century
Th e Structure and Organization of Community
Rituals and Beliefs
By
Daniel L. Overmyer
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2009
Cover illustration: Hebei, Tangxian, Qingxushan, Worship of Dizang Boddhisatva.
Photo by Dan Overmyer (April 2001).
Th is book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Overmyer, Daniel L., 1935–
Local religion in North China in the twentieth century : the structure and
organization of community rituals and beliefs / by Daniel L. Overmyer.
p. cm. — (Handbook of oriental studies = Handbuch der Orientalistik.
Section 4, China ; v. 22)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-17592-1 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. China—Religion—20th century. I. Title. II. Series.
BL1803.O83 2009
200.951—dc22
2009028998
ISSN 0169-9520
ISBN 978 90 04 17592 1
Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, Th e Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing,
IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.
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Fees are subject to change.
printed in the netherlands
With gratitude to Wang Ch’iu-kuei

CONTENTS
Foreword .............................................................................................. ix
Preface .................................................................................................. xiii
Introduction: Th emes and Contexts ................................................ 1
I. Rain Rituals ................................................................................ 18
II. History and Government ......................................................... 32
III. Leadership and Organization .................................................. 53
IV. Temple Festivals ........................................................................ 93
V. Gods and Temples ..................................................................... 123
VI. Beliefs and Values ...................................................................... 149
VII. Concluding and Comparative Comments ............................ 175
Bibliography ......................................................................................... 188
Glossary of Chinese Terms and Names .......................................... 197
Index ..................................................................................................... 217

FOREWORD
Th is book, which marks another major milestone in Daniel L. Over-
myer’s distinguished career, provides a detailed, colorful and, at times,
even moving description of Chinese religious life. One of the most
important realms of public activity in late imperial and modern China
prior to 1949, not to mention Chinese communities in Taiwan, Hong
Kong and overseas today, has centered on local cults and festivals. In
recent years, an ever-increasing number of scholars have explored the
ways in which religious beliefs, rituals, and dramatic performances
both refl ect yet also shape the development of communal society. Th eir
research has shift ed from top-down analyses of the state’s impact on
local communities, to the study of the interaction between so-called
‘elite culture’ and ‘popular culture,’ to detailed ethnographic or micro-
historical case studies of the workings of local society, the roles of
local elites, and the complex reverberation of power between state and
society.1
Th e study of Chinese religions at the communal level has been trans-
formed as well, with scholars using interdisciplinary methodologies to
conduct in-depth investigations. Th e past two decades have witnessed
a dramatic increase in such research, led by scholars such as Adam
Chau, Kenneth Dean, Prasenjit Duara, David Faure, Vincent Goossaert,
Hamashima Atsutoshi 濱島敦俊, Robert Hymes, David Johnson, John
Lagerwey, Susan Naquin, Kristofer Schipper, Michael Szonyi, Barend
ter Haar, James Watson, Robert Weller, Yang Yanjie 楊彥杰, Yü Chün-
fang 于君方, Zheng Zhenman 鄭振滿, etc. Two long-term collaborative
research projects in particular have marked the progress being made
in our understanding of Chinese communal religious traditions. Th e
fi rst is the Minsu quyi congshu 民俗曲藝叢書 (85 volumes, edited by
Wang Ch’iu-kuei 王秋桂; the second is the Kejia chuantong shehui
congshu 客家傳統社會叢書 (30 volumes, edited by John Lagerwey
and his colleagues in China).2
1 For an overview of these issues, see Catherine Bell (1989), “Religion and Chinese
Culture: Toward an Assessment of ‘Popular Religion’”. History of Religions 29(1):
35−57.
2 The importance of these projects is clearly attested to by the publication of
Ethnography in China Today: A Critical Assessment of Methods and Results, edited
by Daniel L. Overmyer with the assistance of Chao Shin-yi 趙昕毅. Taipei: Yuanliu
x foreword
Overmyer has been a pioneer in this fi eld, and one of its leaders as
well. While scholars had long been interested in the doctrinal aspects
of Buddhism and Daoism, the study of communal religious traditions
per se began to take shape during the 1960s and 1970s. One of the fi rst
breakthroughs began with Overmyer’s work on sectarian religious tra-
ditions like the so-called White Lotus Teachings (Bailian jiao 白蓮教),
which marked a paradigm shift from the realm of political history to
that of social history.3 By the 1980s, Overmyer was devoting his eff orts
to collecting and studying the texts that such groups had produced,
particularly so-called ‘precious volumes’ (baojuan 寶卷).4 Another
important accomplishment is the book entitled Th e Flying Phoenix,
published as the result of a cooperative research project involving
Overmyer and David K. Jordan.5 Th ese two scholars used an interdis-
ciplinary approach to study Taiwanese sectarian groups that practice
spirit-writing, not only providing a detailed history of their develop-
ment and introducing important morality books (shanshu 善書), but
also breaking new ground by delineating the internal dynamics of such
groups, especially confl icts and schisms, and shift ing the emphasis from
leaders to average worshipers.
Th rough the years, Overmyer has never lost sight of the need to
undertake thorough investigations of the religious traditions of the
Chinese people in both the past and the present day. For example,
in the Introduction to a special issue of Th e China Quarterly entitled
“Religion in China Today” (Volume 174, June 2003), and which was
also published in book form, he pointed out that, “Religious beliefs and
rituals are an important and growing reality in modern Chinese society,
Publishing Company, 2002. A newer series has resulted from my participation in a
three-year research project organized by John Lagerwey; see the Zhejiang chuantong
shehui congshu 浙江傳統社會叢書.
3 Daniel L. Overmyer (1976) Folk Buddhist Religion: Dissenting Sects in Late Tradi-
tional China. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. See also Susan Naquin (1976)
Millenarian Uprising in China: Th e Eight Trigrams Uprising of 1813. New Haven: Yale
University Press.
4 Daniel L. Overmyer (1999) Precious Volumes: An Introduction to Chinese Sectar-
ian Scriptures from the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press.
5 David K. Jordan and Daniel L. Overmyer (1986) Th e Flying Phoenix. Aspects of
Chinese Sectarianism in Taiwan. Princeton: Princeton University Press.